Intentions to Marry, 1925 Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840531, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1925 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1925d contains pages 1357-1784, covering districts from Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Page 1507

District of Waipukurau Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar J. Holmes

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

9 April 1925

Thomas Naismith Mills
Matilda Ada Hart

Thomas Nai Smith Mills
Matilda Ada Hart
💍 1925/4732

Widower
Divorced (decree absolute 2 Sept 1924)

Rabbiter
Housekeeper

40
40

Waipukurau
Porangahau

19 years

Presbyterian Church

4512

9 April 1925

Rev. Ferguson Fish

No	7
Date of Notice	9 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Naismith Mills	Matilda Ada Hart
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Nai Smith Mills	Matilda Ada Hart
	💍 1925/4732
Condition	Widower	Divorced (decree absolute 2 Sept 1924)
Profession	Rabbiter	Housekeeper
Age	40	40
Dwelling Place	Waipukurau	Porangahau
Length of Residence	19 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	4512
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Ferguson Fish

11 April 1925

Charles Alfred Price
Mabel Alexander Madson

Charles Alfred Price
Mabel Alexandra Madson
💍 1925/4733

Bachelor
Spinster

Line Foreman
Home Duties

22
23

Waipukurau
Waipukurau

3 days
21 years

Residence of James Peter Madson, Waipukurau

4513

11 April 1925

Canon Butterfield

No	8
Date of Notice	11 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Alfred Price	Mabel Alexander Madson
BDM Match (95%)	Charles Alfred Price	Mabel Alexandra Madson
	💍 1925/4733
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Line Foreman	Home Duties
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Waipukurau	Waipukurau
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James Peter Madson, Waipukurau
Folio	4513
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Canon Butterfield

18 April 1925

James Atkins
Adeline Pretoria Browne

James Atkins
Adeline Pretoria Browne
💍 1925/4734

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agent
School Teacher

30
24

Patutahi, Gisborne
Waipukurau

20 years
10 years

Catholic Church

4514

18 April 1925

Rev. Father O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	9
Date of Notice	18 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Atkins	Adeline Pretoria Browne
	💍 1925/4734
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agent	School Teacher
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Patutahi, Gisborne	Waipukurau
Length of Residence	20 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church
Folio	4514
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

27 May 1925

George Lothair Chatwin
Kathleen Bone

George Lothair Chatwin
Kathleen Bone
💍 1925/4735

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist
Domestic Duties

29
19

Waipukurau
Waipukurau

3 years
4 years

St Marys Church

4515

Henry Hancock Bone, adopting parent

27 April 1925

Canon E. D. Rice

No	10
Date of Notice	27 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Lothair Chatwin	Kathleen Bone
	💍 1925/4735
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	Domestic Duties
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Waipukurau	Waipukurau
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Marys Church
Folio	4515
Consent	Henry Hancock Bone, adopting parent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Canon E. D. Rice

10 June 1925

Edward Walmsley Lunt
Muriel Emily Smith

Edward Walmsley Lunt
Muriel Emily Smith
💍 1925/4736

Bachelor
Spinster

Laundryman
Clerk

34
24

Waipukurau
Waipukurau

3 years 6 months
15 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church

4516

10 June 1925

Rev. R. F. Fish

No	11
Date of Notice	10 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Walmsley Lunt	Muriel Emily Smith
	💍 1925/4736
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laundryman	Clerk
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Waipukurau	Waipukurau
Length of Residence	3 years 6 months	15 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church
Folio	4516
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Fish

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).